KEMA eBook Smart Meter Open Standards

7/31/2019 KEMA eBook Smart Meter Open Standards

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A Global Perspective

The Critical Need or Smart Meter Standards:


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Smart meters and standardsSmart meters provide real benefits for uti l ities and consumers but challenges remain

A Smar t Gr id wi thou t st anda rds is no t a smar t idea

Smart meter rolloutSmart meter rollouts: Enels smart meters in Italy

Why standards?Standards ensure reliabil ity

Standards ensure effective communication while lowering risk

Standards promote healthy markets keeping short and long-term costs down

Standards and the longevity question

The right stepsHow to take the right steps in a pre-standards smart meter deployment

The right steps


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Smart meters are considered to be the backbone of Smart Grid deployment the

first move into two-way communication between power providers and their customers.Smart meters provide better real-time information to utilities about the quality of power

supply and the customer demand for electricity and gas at any given moment. Based on

actual deployments of smart meters globally, those benefits translate into more reliable

service, streamlined bill ing, and reduced power loss. For consumers, use of smart meters

makes understanding their consumption information easier, can help them better manage

their costs, and removes the inconveniences associated with switching suppliers. More

importantly, smart meters promote energy conservation. Finally, if meters for electricity,

gas, and water leverage common communications methods, there can be significant

benefits to each of the serving utilities by providing a platform that supports the metering

requirements along with other critical monitoring functions. However, those benefits will

hinge upon the reliability, interoperability, life span and ultimately the long-term cost-

savings of the meters and the associated communication infrastructure.

The Pu Eect. Research studies have shown thatthe dashboard o the Toyota Prius, which makes it

easy to see the amount o gas being saved, changes

consumer behavior and urther adds to uel eiciency.

Smart meters may lead to the same Prius eect in the

home, saving up to 15% on energy bills.

Smart meters provide real benefts or utilities

and consumers but challenges remain.

The many consumer beneits o smart meters will only

be realized once international standards have been put

in place

Fred Koenis, Senior Consultant, KEMA

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Smart meters and standards

Smart meter rollout

Why standards?

The right steps www.kema.com

Smart meterS and StandardS

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There are those who consider standards to be a nice to have, while in fact, standards are

essential to the long-term viability of the Smart Grid. If smart meters cant operate in tandemwith the rest of a network, or if products from different vendors do not successfully and

fully interoperate in the future, those components may have to be replaced resulting in

significant additional costs.

Although the European Commission advocates transparency, to date there is no set of integrated

open standards that governs the design, manufacture, and distribution of smart meters. The

European OPEN Meter and OPEN Node projects have been set up to promote open standard

development. One of the challenges, however, is that each layer of communicati on needs its

own set of standards, from the physical layer to the data link layer to the application layer.

Steps have been made to develop standard communication protocols for different segments,

but as of yet there is no integrated standard p rotocols. With smart meter vendors popping up

by the dozens, and without a set of international standards for all vendors to adhere to, the

potential benefits of the Smart Grid hang in the balance.

BENEFITS OF INTEROPERABILITY

Interoperability: the possibility o Inormation

& Communication Technology (ICT) systems

to support the data stream and to acilitate the

exchange o inormation and knowledge on the

technical, as well as on the semantic ield.

Customers can change metering companies

without changing the ir meter.

Suppliers dont have technical obstacles

to implementing components o dierent

manuacturers.

More competition and thereore lower prices.

A Smart Grid without standards is not

a smart idea

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


Smart meterS and StandardS

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http://kema.com/http://kema.com/


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The European Union has drawn up a directive requiring that 80% of consumers

must have remote ly readable meters by 2020, as long as it makes economic sense.Energy companies globally are launching smart meter rollout plans or pilot projects.

In 2001, in response to a high level of costly energy theft in Italy, Italian energy

company Enel replaced electromechanical electricity meters with remotely readable

ones. This changeover has had a variety of benefits above and beyond preventing

energy theft for Enel for consumers and the country at large.

Smart meter rollout: Enels smart meters in Italy

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


Smart meter rolloutS

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Beeft Cute Invoices on consumption Multi-tari choices Contract management No more home intrusions by

meter readers

A cost-eective gateway int othe home to access new

value-added services

Beeft the Cut Demand-side management Lower power consumption Easier switch o supplier Monitoring o network

availability and efciency

Beeft Ee Savings o 500 million

annually with a 5-year payback

First mover advantage Industry leadership and prestige New services matching

real-time customer needs

BEnEiTs o smarT mETErs in iTaly

Leaders in European

smart meter installations

Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oia/aeo/overview.html#uel

Italy

mii 0

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S we de n F in la nd D en ma rk N or wa y

33.5

100% 100%

86%

52%

7%

5.2

2.71.7

200,000


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First and foremost, meter readings have to be reliable. In order to gain confidence in

the benefits of smart me ters, consumers must underst and that these devices provide

valuable tools that enable them to more effectively manage their consumption.

Proper management will result in lower bills. At the same time, utilities need to

know that each kilowatt is accounted for. To date, there are many standards that are

used to measure the accuracy of the metrology portion of the meter; however, as

smart meters become integral parts of an ecosystem that gathers remote telemetric

information on network conditions such as voltage, power factor and line anomalies,

many of these standards are still emerging. Since many meters also have the abilityto report sensed outage conditions, basic metrics for establishing a common set of

criteria for reporting of these still remains undefined.

Standards ensure reliability

Whether you are dealing with a traditional meter or a

smart meter, you need to be sure that what it says is

accurate.

Bartjan Kaptein, Manager,

KEMA Calibration & Metering Lab

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


Why StandardS?

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For a multi-vendor solution, open (international)

standards are preerableits the only way to ensure

interoperability.

Maurice Adriaensen, KEMA


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A meter is only smart if it can commun icate eff ect ive ly with other equ ipment .

Because multi-vendor solutions are inevitable, clear communication criteria need

to be defined in advance, specifically how meters, data concentrators, and central

systems will work together. In Italy and Sweden, proprietary standards are used

for communication between meters and central computer systems. However, as

increasing layers of technology are added, a network of meters built on proprietary

standards alone poses risks for effective, system-wide communication. As new

technologies and vendors come into the market, there is no way to guarantee that

they will communicate with older technologies or each other, making their integra-tion into t he grid a longe r, more expensive process.

Standards ensure eective communication

while lowering risk

An energy company thats got hundreds o thousands

or even millions o meters clearly doesnt want to

replace the whole lot.

Maurice Adriaensen, KEMA

Components o the Smart Grid

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


Why StandardS?

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Competition among meter manufacturers makes for a healthy market, but only

when open standards are in play. For example, without a set of standards that

all manufacturers can follow, a single smart meter manufacturer could establish

a virtual monopoly, with their proprietary standards adopted by the majority of

utilities. This would make it very difficult for new companies and technologies to

enter the market, stifling innovation at a time when it is most needed. Allowing

and encouraging competition between vendors based on technology rather than

conflicting sets of standards is critical to driving innovation and lowering costs, both

of which are absolutely mandatory in order for the Smart Grid to be successfularound the world.

Standards promote healthy markets

keeping short and long-term costs down

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


Why StandardS?

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Company shares

in meter sales

by value in 2008.

Source: World Electricity

Meter Report, Ed7

2009, ABS Energy

Research


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Mechanical meters have proved themselves very robust: most still meet the relevant

IEC standards even after decades of use. Because smart meters are far more complex

and robust devices than traditional meters there has not been a long history of field test

results, creating a level of uncertainty about how long they will last. Testing to date implies

that their longevity will be shorter than traditional meters, but there is not yet enough hard

data to know for sure. The way a meters life expectancy should be assessed is covered

by a special international standard, but that standard doesnt go far enough. The problems

that reduce the lifespan of a smart meter are difficult to pinpoint because they are far

more complex than older meters, and because they contain components from multiple

suppliers. Right now, there is no standard that requires that all of the various components

of a smart meter be traced and cataloged. There is no way of telling where those internal

components came from, who made them, or how long they might be expected to last.

New meters have to undergo a variety of pre-deployment tests to check resistance to

environmental factors and EMC performance, but that is only one source of potential

failure. A set of unifying standards would go a long way toward helping utilities and other

grid operators determine t he expected longevity of their smart meters.

Standards and the longevity question

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


Why StandardS?

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Theres a lot to be said or paying close attention to the

longevity question and making the standard mandatory.

Our testing o digital meters leads us to suspect that

these devices may lack the longevity o traditional

meters, but there hasnt been enough experience with

them yet.

Bartjan Kaptein, Manager,

KEMA Calibration & Metering Lab


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How to take the right steps in a pre-standards smart

meter deployment

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


the r IGht StePS

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The absence of standards does not mean that leading utilities should

stop the push forward to smart meter rollout, but it does make itall the more important for utilities to take the right steps to mitigate

risk. High-level functional specifications for smart metering systems

provide an alternative to open standards. By working with detailed,

specific functional requirements, utilities and regulators can achieve

a quick rollout and increase competition among vendors that offer

different types of solutions.

Leading Spanish energy company, Iberdrola, a founding member

of the PRIME (PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution) Alliance, iscurrently working on determining compliance tests, to be applied

to various manufacturers products ahead of its rollout of 100,000

smart meters. Scheduled to start this year, the rollout will ultimately

lead to the replacement of all the companys meters more than

10 million units in the next few years.

Because several manufacturers are contracted to supply the meters,

Iberdrola has developed testing procedures and has requested thatall of the meter manufacturers test their communication interfaces for

compliance with the profile.

Taking place at KEMAs Smart Meter Lab in Madrid, Iberdolas

rigorous testing requirements are laying the foundation for the

development of standards; regulators and Spanish energy companies

regularly visit, transforming the lab into a demonstration project

of possible smart meter deployment scenarios. The findings will

certainly push regulators and other energy providers to discoverpossible challenges and solutions raised by the current lack

of standards.


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The right steps

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Smart meter rollout

Why standards?


the r IGht StePS

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1.Develop an in-depth plan for your Smart Grid rollout,

understanding what the goals, business case, and potential

challenges are for your company and region

2.Create a highly detailed set of functional specifications that

all vendors and suppliers have to meet with their products

3. Follow and understand the regulatory environment in your

region so that you can anticipate future changes

4. Only work with vendors whose products have been thoroughly

vetted and tested by independent industry experts

In the absence of standards, there are a number of steps that utilities and energy providers around the world can take to minimize

the risks associated with Smart Grid upgrades, and ensure that their investments are sustainable and cost-effective in the long term.


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Visit www.SmartGridSherpa.com

A ree knowledge base and blog providing expert guidance on yourpath to the Smart Grid.

www.kema.com

For general inquiries, please contact

our head oice in Arnhem, the

Netherlands at +31 26 356 91 11 or

via email at smartg [email protected]

To ind speci ic contact inormation

or your region, please visit

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